Former manager for Pace Bus Service sentenced for $300,000 in bribes

Over the course of five years, Rajinder Sachdeva, 54, of Schaumburg used his position as department manager at Pace to secure nearly $300,000 in kickbacks and bribes from IT contractors. To give preferential treatment to favored contractors, he hid these payments by routing them through third-party companies that he controlled.

Sachdeva had been the Department Manager for Applications at the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority until August of 2015 when he was forced to step down due to the investigation. The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FBI collaborated on the investigation, which finally led to a guilty plea and sentencing.

“Public corruption is a significant problem in this district, and the defendant’s corrupt behavior is the type that erodes the public’s confidence in public agencies,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew F. Madden and Erika Csicsila wrote in the government’s sentencing memo.“The defendant repeatedly used his position at a transportation agency to line his own pockets.”